Ball and Chain
by Ketojan
Summary: With a Slave in custody and a place at Paradise Falls secured, Sixteen year old, budding slaver, Garry Sans should be overjoyed. However, he finds himself somewhat conflicted as the morality of the situation sinks in. After capturing a seventeen year old courier (Annie), he begins to question where his heart really lies, with his gang or with his principles.
1. Chapter 1: Easy target

**A/N: Well, here we go, with my second story, if you're also following Iconoclash, don't fear as I'm no where near done with that just yet but I've decided to write a second story for multiple reasons. **

**This story is going to be a lot shorter than Iconoclash, with shorter chapters and it's also going to be more teen friendly for people who don't like mature themes. It isn't directly linked to Iconoclash but viewers of that story may find some recurring themes and possibly some recurring characters. :P**

**And... For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, welcome! **

**This story follows a young slaver and his victim as they journey back to Paradise Falls, the idea was to attempt to create a more sympathetic slaver character who isn't portrayed as being evil, simply for his occupation and to explore the mental conflict of someone in that position as well as exploring the relationship of the person who he's enslaving.**

**This story will be around three to five parts, though it could be more. I'm aiming to keep it a lot shorter than my previous stories though, so it won't be the epic size of Iconoclash.**

**Anywho, I hope that people enjoy it, please leave a review and share any thoughts, all thoughts towards the story help as I can keep them in mind, for the next chapter or for all of my future projects.**

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><p>The road to Canterbury Commons was desolate, almost completely void of life, a heavy wind was blowing, due to the autumn season and with it came a blast of cold air, which, combined with the hot sun, made the conditions just right for travelling in.<p>

A man could be seen, wandering down the road, with a hunting rifle slung over his shoulder. He was a young man, with short, brown, shaggy, greasy, unwashed hair, that went down to his lower neck. He was quite young in his face, a long, slender nose and hazel brown eyes and even with the stubble that had grown around his chin and on his cheeks, over the two days that he had been travelling and the dirt and grime that also clung to his face, he looked no older than Sixteen.

He wore a merc trouble maker outfit, which had seen a great deal of action but not from his back, most likely from various other people who had worn it over and over for the past two hundred years…

Garry's feet dragged along the gritty floor of the wasteland as he wandered the approach to Canterbury Commons, the young man, of around sixteen had his eyes set on the road as he continued his approach towards the spot, that would be his ambush point.

There was a stretch between Canterbury Commons and the Wheaton armory that was quite well travelled. Most caravans would pass through the area as it was a quite well known travel route, which made doing a cycle between Megaton, Canterbury Commons and Rivet City a breeze.

As a result, many believed the route to be as safe as houses, travelers often wandered alone down this route, believing that it was overall avoided by slavers. No slaver, with half a brain would attack a caravan as many of them traded with Paradise Falls, however, individuals? That was another story, if they weren't travelling with a cow, that was carrying four times its body weight, then they were fair game.

As soon as he reached the ambush point, Garry readied his ambush for any unsuspecting travelers, he had all the time in the world to wait for some asshole to wander through and when they did, they were as good as collared.

The Slaver knelt down, in a small hole, so that he was out of sight, he was obscured by some foliage, to hide his presence from his target, whilst allowing him to be quite close by, so that he could jump out and nab them.

He decided to check his list of instructions, once more, to make sure that he didn't miss anything.

_Here are some simple rules for you to follow._

__Don't tinker with the collar - you'll probably blow yourself up, which would serve you right.__

__If you lose a collar, or get it stolen from you, you'll end up wearing one. We won't tolerate any threat to our business.__

_If you have any questions, piss off. I don't have time for retards._

_- Grouse _

Seemed simple enough, just clamp it onto someone's neck and presto, instant cash!

Provided that they don't go hysterical and run off, getting their head turned into grits in the process, of course…

Despite the simplicity of the task, despite how well planned out it was and despite how little risk there was of failure Garry was incredibly nervous about this. Garry had been desperate to be accepted, among the slavers for years now, ever since he was around fourteen.

Garry's friend was quite close with some of the slavers and he eventually got them into the camp. It had **everything**, drink, chems, pussy…

Walking through the gates of Paradise Falls was like walking through the pearly gates of heaven, with a more grouchy St Peter. It was from then on that Garry grew more and more fond with the idea of joining their cause and so, he did everything he could to stay on their good side. From the obvious sucking up to doing some minor jobs for the slavers, just to try and leave an impression.

Eventually, he'd licked enough ass to earn himself a trial, him and two other kids were given a collar each and told to piss off and come back with a new friend.

It wasn't a race or anything, if all three of them came back with slaves, then they would all be accepted, freelance slavers were always useful, they only wanted competent slavers. This shit was easy money and yet Garry still felt some fear as to whether or not he'd be able to pin a guy down and slap a collar on him.

Anything could happen…

Anything…

He kept his eyes fixed on the road, waiting for the ideal target, one would have come along at some point or another…

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><p>Annie sat at the bar, hunched over her bowl of noodles and enjoying her reward for a stress free delivery. Porter Joe, the proprietor of the restaurant that she was eating in, leant back against the cooker.<p>

Annie was a young girl, in her mid to late teens, she had short, blonde hair, that like most wastelander's hair hadn't been groomed much. She was remarkably clean otherwise, due to her coming from quite well off family, who had plenty of access to clean water and radaway.

Porter Joe had his arms folded, with a slight grin on his face as he watched the courier stuff her face, oblivious to the fact that she was being observed as she devoured the bowl. It wouldn't take the most perceptive soul to see that her last delivery left her famished.

"You know, if you ate it slower, you'd be able to taste it." Porter Joe mocked, slowly pulling himself upright as he observed her.

"If I ate slower, I'd starve to death…" She grumbled, her mouth full of noodles, muffling her words and getting another grin out of Porter Joe as he shook his head.

"You know, you're more than welcome to stay the night, Uncle Roe won't mind it, if it means that you get home safely. You could enjoy your meal and sleep here, instead of giving yourself indigestion and having to run home in the dark." Porter Joe and the rest of the town didn't give this offer out easily but Annie was incredibly young and her father was a valued supplier of mechanical parts.

Her Father, Frank, was quite reluctant to use his daughter as a courier for his business as the wasteland as a dangerous place but the town and even Annie herself agreed that she was faster than he was and could make the deliveries in no time.

That and she would more likely survive any encounters as she was quicker on her feet and could easily outrun any creature and probably most men. Though she wasn't much, by way of strength or fighting skill, she was a fast runner and in most cases, that was all that she needed and she knew enough as far as self-defence goes to slowly her opponent down, so that she may leave them in the dust.

Of course, in the dark, it was another story, sprinting was risky, when there were tripping hazards all over the road, one wayward rock and her lightning fast sprint would turn into a shamble as she would likely fall and injure herself.

Even in her leather armour, she was at risk of bruising something or hitting her head and then she was vulnerable to whatever monstrosity or sick mind was after her.

"I'm fine." Annie insisted, looking over her shoulder at the crimson sky.

"It's not even dark out, I'll be home within the hour, if I set off soon."

Porter Joe knew that she wasn't exactly bullshitting, Annie was fast and she knew the road better than most, if she believed that she could make it back before dark, then she could.

The Diner owner sighed and gave in, she wasn't **his** kid, she had to make her own mistakes and 'Daddy' can pick up the pieces, once she gets back to her shack.

"How is your old man anyway?"

"He's okay…" Annie replied, with her mouth full.

"He's thinking of moving us to Rivet City, said that we'd be safer there and that he'd have more room to work."

Porter Joe didn't especially like this idea as it would mean that Annie would have to travel further, every time she made a delivery but if it meant that she'd be safer, then maybe it's for the best.

"He could move here, it's near his scavenge sights and it's just as safe as Rivet City, hell, he'd really be helping this place grow."

The young, blonde girl shrugged and continued to eat, it wasn't her decision to make and she wasn't all that bothered about leaving the shack behind. From what she had seen, the wasteland was perfectly habitable, if you're careful.

"I could tell him, that you wouldn't mind letting him stay… But he did kind of have his heart set on being able to go to the church of Saint Monica, on a Sunday."

Porter Joe shrugged, a church could quite easily be erected here, in one of the vacant buildings and if not, he could always have some sort of shrine built in his house.

"I'm sure that we could arrange something."

Annie shrugged, in truth, she also looked forward to going to church on a Sunday, like old world families used to. Annie, like her father, was quite religious and the idea of having a church, a community of people with similar faiths, a few feet away from her home was more than appealing to her.

Still, the people of Canterbury Commons liked her father and her, they welcomed her with open arms, perhaps, in a strange way, those two things were the same…

"I'll… I'll ask him, when I get back, it's nice to know that we're welcome somewhere."

Annie finished her noodles and dropped the fork back in her bowl as she slowly stood up, pulling herself up as she moved the stool away, with her foot before turning around and making her way out of the diner.

"Thanks Joe!" She chirped, leaving through the front door, leaving her money and the bowl on the table as she did so. She quickly ran down the street and began to her journey home, not bothering to bother anyone with goodbyes as she'd be back in a few days' time and could catch them then.

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><p>Garry sat by the roadside, cross-legged, with his rifle on his lap as he stared off to his right, watching and waiting for someone to come over the hill and unwittingly walk past him. It was then that he heard it… footsteps…<p>

Boots were pounding against the tarmac road as a victim drew in near. Garry didn't look as to look was to risk getting spotted, though it didn't matter as the person was running, like an idiot.

He'd nab them, first chance he got, hit them, square in the cheekbone, with his rifle and then slap a collar on them.

Piece of piss…

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><p>Annie continued to sprint along the road, oblivious to the ambush that was lying in wait up ahead, just waiting for an opportunity to pounce. She didn't seem to be paying much attention to things that weren't directly in front of her, she was focussing on her speed and her feet, rather than her surroundings.<p>

This proved to be her undoing as something flashed, out of the corner of her eye and before she knew it, she had a rifle butt driven into her left eye. The strike was a heavy blow and the fact that she wasn't expecting it didn't help either.

She shrieked in both fear and pain as she was sent off balance and stumbled towards the floor, seeing the shadow of her attacker following her as she shambled to the floor and rolled over, winding up on her back.

The bright, setting sun obscured him for a moment before he stepped out, into its light and blocked it, looming over her, with the barrel of the rifle pointed at her face.

"Move and you'll be whistling through your forehead!" He barked, his voice sort of strained when he yelled, to the point that it almost sounded like a shriek. The man descended to his knees and mounted her, pinning her forearms down, with both of his knees as the, slightly older, blonde girl just stared at him, the blow to the head had left her oblivious to the danger that she was in.

The boy drew a large metallic ring from his vest and snatched at her hair, yanking her head forward as he bent the ring back and placed half of it behind her head before dropping her head, unceremoniously, to the ground.

Before she could even blink, he snapped the choker shut, over her throat and a little red light came on.

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><p>A wave of relief hit Garry as he took a minute to sigh, expressing his relief as minimally as possible before lunging forward and grabbing his newly caught livestock by the collar, pulling her up as her head hung limp, the Slaver slapped her face to keep her conscious.<p>

"Don't you pass out on me, bitch!" He snapped, back-handing her across the face, twice and bringing some life back to her. She looked up and stared at him, oblivious as to why he was yelling at her and why her arms, hands and fingers really hurt and why her neck felt heavy and uncomfortable.

"You and me are going on a little trip together, if you wanna survive that trip, you're gonna do **everything** I say!" He bawled in her face but she didn't seem to be taking anything in.

Annie's eyes rolled back into her head and her head fell limp to the side as she finally passed out, in the Slaver's hands.


	2. Chapter 2: Dependence

**A/N: Hello peeps!**

**I'm glad to say that I've finally finished with my second chapter of Ball and Chain, which has actually quite a lot of fun to work with so far. This week: Annie wakes up to a boat load of news and Garry ends up with his hands full...**

**Remember to review, once you've done reading, I always appreciate feedback.**

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><p>It had taken the young slaver some time to carry his victim to the nearest bit of shelter, the old Corvega Factory, just south of the Commons. The bitch looks a <strong>lot<strong> heavier than she was, most likely due to her leather armour or perhaps it was the bit of muscle on her legs. Either way, it was a pain in the ass carrying her here and he was tempted to just drag her along, by the ankles and let her airy little head hit every rock from Canterbury Commons to **this** shithole.

Garry managed to resist this urge, just barely, and carried her over his shoulder, he had taken her to the factory and propped her up against one of the walls, until she woke up. If he were honest, the Slaver didn't mind too much as it was a chance to rest, after his ordeal. It was cool in here and though he could hear the occasional scuttle of the creepy crawlies, he knew that they were deep within the building.

So long as they both kept quiet and kept their cool, they should be safe…

He found himself watching the girl as she slept, opposite him, the blow to the head was a **lot** harder than he intended. He hoped to stun her but not knock her out, still, it worked out, for the most part. She had received a tiny cut on the left side of her head, which he put a plaster over to prevent it from getting infected or anything.

Garry wasn't much of a doctor, he wasn't much of anything really but he knew that, that was better than nothing…

Though the Slaver felt a little wrong, watching someone as they slept, it was almost impossible to avoid as everything else in the room was dead, old, rotting, decaying…

Boring…

Annie's breathing was the only bit of life in this room, minus the ants…

They were at it again, their scuttling could be heard, growing more and more rapid by the second. It sounded louder to, causing Garry to reach for his hunting rifle as he almost anticipated their arrival. However, after a few minutes, it died down again, the ants seemed to have given up their search for now, if 'searching' was what they were actually doing…

The Slaver sighed with relief and leant his rifle against the wall as he relaxed, soon as 'Princess Aurora' wakes up, they'd be able to leave this shithole in the dust.

Annie awoke, not long after, her eyes slowly opened and she uttered a couple of incoherent words as she sat up and her head slowly swayed from side to side as she felt like she had partook in a boxing match, whilst recovering from a hangover.

She slowly reached up to her forehead and clutched her left temple, wincing as she put pressure on the cut. The courier took a moment to acknowledge the fact that she was awake as the who, what, when, where and whys came back to her.

Who was the man, opposite her? Was he the one who hit her? Most likely, because he's holding a rifle and he looked like the rugged, trouble making type. Okay, then what was going on? Was she being robbed? No, he would have made off with her armour and her caps…

_My caps!_

She reached in her pocket, to find that the payment had been stolen, causing her to kneel up and snap at him, in rage.

"Wh-Where's my money!?" She snapped, though it came out as a bit of a slur as she was still recovering from the blow to the head.

Garry just reached into his back pocket and pulled a small pouch, it was quite old and weathered.

"You mean this?" He asked, slowly placing it into his pocket.

"Sorry lady but that's **my** money now."

This just angered Annie as she clenched her fist and shambolically rose to her feet.

"Alright, l-listen here you thief. If I don't make it home to my dad by sunset, he's going to have the whole of Canterbury Commons hunt you down, like a dog, to find me!"

Garry just stared at her, in truth he'd never had to deal with a situation like this before, crowd control, he could see why some of his superiors beat any slaves that talked back but he knew that he couldn't bring himself to hit her again. He'd probably pussy out, half way through, like his dad did, when he was sober.

That and Annie was barely standing, he could probably push her over by blowing in her face, so hitting her probably wouldn't be a good idea, unless he wanted to spend some more quality time with the ants…

"That's okay, you'll be half way to Paradise Falls by sunset anyway but thanks for the heads up though."

Annie gasped at the mention of that ungodly place, she froze on the spot as the what and where questions were answered with two words.

'Paradise Falls.'

"What!?" As she yelled, in shock, she felt her chin graze something bulky, that clung to her neck, she reached up and grabbed it, wrapping her hands around its vice-like grip.

"No… No!

No, no, no, no, **no, NO, NO!**" She wrapped her hands around the explosive collar and began to tug at it, with every word of denial. The young courier clawed, pulled and pried at the device but found it to be no use. It didn't discourage her though as she furiously tugged at it, hoping to break free.

This had gone on for a little too long, Garry had to put a stop to it before the stupid bitch set her own collar off and screwed everything up.

"Hey, hey, **hey!**" He snapped, he marched over to her and grabbed her wrist, yanking her forward and causing her to stumble as he did so, staring with a vengeful glare into her eyes.

"Don't screw around with that thing, you'll just set it off and it'll blow your freaking head off!

Is that what you want? Do you **want** to **die!?**"

Annie's eyes began to shimmer as her wrist went rather cold, along with the rest of her, tears involuntarily leaked from the Courier's eyes.

"I… I don't **want** to be a slave…" She uttered, still coming to terms with the news as Garry let her go and allowed her to stumble over to the corner of the room, where she could bury her face in her hands and presumably cry.

Garry just remained silent, feeling like he had been sucker punched to the gut, he'd done this before, with others but it just… wasn't the same…

"My Dad doesn't know…" She said, into her hand, the muffled sound of which echoed, throughout the room. She slowly brought her hands down as she realised that and slowly turned back to the Slaver, with a look of panic and a hint of anger behind her otherwise soft blue eyes.

"My Father… **Doesn't** know!"

The Slaver said nothing and concentrated on keeping a straight face, he had to remember that she would say or do anything to escape now, he had to ignore every plea, every promise, every advancement, everything that she had to offer was a lie and it was just a ruse to get close enough to shiv him in the throat.

Not that, that would do her much good, she'd still have to go to Paradise Falls and turn herself in, if she wanted to live. But, then again, she might just kill him out of spite…

"P-Please…? I… He's a good man, I want him to at least **know!**"

"How the hell's that supposed to work? I just knock on his door and say 'oh, hey, Mr… Blonde Lady's dad."

"His **name** is Frank and mine's Annie, if you even remotely care!" Annie snapped, cutting him off in his tracks and causing him to fall silent.

"He… He **needs** to know…" She choked, falling silent as she folded her arms and turned around again and the room fell silent once more. Well, almost silent…

The two of them could hear the scuttling of ants, 'Annie' turned around, with a look of horror on her face as she noticed that they were getting closer.

"W-What's that!?"

Garry turned around and saw the golden crest of a giant ant, emerge from around the corner from the staircase, leading up to the upper level. Following it were several more ants, all of which seemed somewhat aggravated.

"Shit…" Garry hissed, turning back to his slave as they got closer.

"C'mon, we gotta go!" He barked, snatching her wrist, with her free hand and dragging her outside.

The two of them forced their way out and Garry threw Annie to the floor, not remotely concerned about her wellbeing right now as the ants were drawing in on them. He slammed the door shut, in one of their faces and jumped back as the three, ungodly large insects threw themselves at the large, green steel door.

Annie, who was now sat on her hip, her hands, knees and left hip were covered in dirt looked up, to see Garry raise his rifle. It unnerved her a little to see that he wasn't' entirely confident that the door would hold and the two of them sat, petrified, as they listened out.

The ants continued to assault the door, ramming it with their huge heads and scratching it, with their large pincers. Their infernal scuttling, like the flickering of flames, radiated from behind the door but as if an angel of mercy intervened, they eventually died down and the door had managed to contain them.

Garry breathed a sigh of relief as he slumped forward, panting heavily as he looked up to Annie, to check if she was okay.

"You okay?" He asked, though he immediately felt weird for doing so, afterwards.

Annie just stared at the door, haunted by the possibility that those monstrous things could have broken free and torn them apart. She eventually shook her head, to brush it off and then looked up to him, looking disgruntled.

"Do you **have** to be so rough!?" She snapped, slowly pulling herself to her feet and dusting herself off as she faced him.

"It's bad enough that you enslaved me **and** then stole my money, now you're throwing me around, like a ragdoll!?"

Garry scowled at her stupidity or perhaps it was ignorance, either way, he didn't hide his frustrations.

"Oh, **excuse me**, princess! Next time, I'll get a friggin' horse and carriage to pull your bimbo ass out of the hot zone!"

"Oh and now you're rude and insulting! You know what!? I'm kind of sorry that we got out of that, the ants would have made much better company than you!

You savage asshole!"

Garry had, had enough of this shit, he marched over and snatched her arm and tugged the girl along, towards the large steel door.

"W-Wait! Wh-What're you… What're you doing, get off of me!"

"You wanna go be queen of the ants!? Fine, have it your way, Princess!" He snapped, throwing her to the floor and causing her to fall up against the cold, hard, exterior wall of the factory as he threw his rifle to his left. The Slaver pulled the door open and then grabbed Annie by her thick, blonde hair, pulling her towards the ant nest.

The Courier genuinely feared for her life at this point, she cried out, in terror as she clawed at his hand, whilst kicking her legs about, making as much of a fuss as possible to try and break free. She cursed herself for not bringing a weapon but then again, he probably would have taken any weapon that she was carrying, when he captured her.

Garry had her dragged over to the door and held it open ajar as he forced her face closer and closer to it, an ant threw itself at the door, getting its pincers caught between the wall and door itself, bearing its sharp teeth in Annie's face as it was pushed closer and closer towards it. The young Courier was forced to gaze into its gaping, circular mouth as its tiny, razor sharp teeth snapped at her and its pincers tried to break through whatever was obstructing them, so that they could wrap around her head and crush the life out of her.

"Please, s-stop! I'm… I'm sorry! I'm sorry, just stop! **Please!**"

That was all that Garry needed to hear, the slave knew her place now, hopefully this lesson would stick. He jerked her head back and threw her to the floor once more before shoulder barging the door and throwing his full weight on it. The ant was knocked back and the door shut in its face, leaving the two of them outside…

Garry panted, heavily, as he gazed upon the disobedient slave, who was now crying at his feet. Annie had little experience with the wasteland's creatures and seeing the creature **that** close, those… awful teeth… it was more than a bit of a shock.

To be honest, seeing her crying in the dirt pretty much made the whole thing worth while…

"Good…" He panted, causing her to look up, with teary eyes as she looked incredibly broken and shaken from the ordeal.

"Now, you listen to me. I don't wanna hear any..." The Slaver's rant was cut off as the ant had rammed the door, from the other side. Its huge, rock hard, head was like a battering ram and it sent Garry flying, causing him to land on his back.

He cried out as it scuttled over to him and climbed on top of him, snapping at his face, with his pincers. As it snapped at his face and he saw **exactly** what had spooked Annie, the small and yet incredibly intimidating mouth. It's tiny, razor sharp teeth, snapping away at his face.

He brought up his arms to stop the pincers from closing around his head but the ant's pincers were a **lot** stronger than his arms. His feeble arms weren't enough to withstand the pressure, brought on by the ant's might. He cried out as his face drew nearer and nearer to the Ant's teeth, fearing his end. He panicked as he realised that he was about to die, horribly in fact, he could feel its hard body crushing his chest, making breathing somewhat difficult.

The small shards in its mouth were enough to cut his face to ribbons before devouring his entire head. That was if the pincers didn't crush it, like an orange first or maybe it would get bored of this struggle and decide to tear his torso to pieces instead, stabbing him, repeatedly with its pincers before gnawing away at his innards, whilst he was still alive, ignoring his screams as it did so.

All of this, just to prove a point to a girl, who was already terrified, to force obedience out of her, when she was already forced to do as he said. The last thing he ever did was condemn someone else into slavery and… that somehow didn't sound as grand as he thought it would.

Annie got up as she saw the ant assault her captor, she gasped as she saw how dire the situation was as she sprung to her feet and rushed over to the door, seeing that its brethren had come to join in on the feast. She quickly slammed the door in their faces, making sure that she heard it click, so that it would hold.

The Slave quickly spun around and saw that Garry was putting up a good fight but the ant was surely to win, he wasn't even armed and there was no way that he could slip out. Without thinking for herself, Annie looked around for something to use.

Didn't Garry have a gun?

The gun!

She looked around and scanned the floor for it, she immediately saw it to her right, prompting her to rush over to it and pick it up. The Slave quickly pulled the latch back, to check to see if it was loaded, it was, with four rounds in it.

That was more than enough for an ant.

She ran over, to the ant's side, with the hunting rifle and raised it, she looked down the sites of the gun and kept the rifle trained on the creature as it was too focussed on her captor to notice her. Her finger wrapped around the trigger as she aligned the shot, targeting the mid section, hoping to blow it off of the boy and free him, hopefully knocking it on its back.

Annie drew a deep breath, like her father had taught her before gently squeezing the trigger, causing the muzzle to light up, flash and for the earth shattering sound of the shot to echo, throughout the nearby area as she fired a bullet, straight into the ant's body.

As predicted, the ant flew off of Garry and ended up on its back, kicking its legs in the air as it scuttled, desperately to try and get upright again before its opponents took advantage of its vulnerability.

Annie quickly rushed forward, jumping over Garry and stood over the creature, with her rifle trained on its head. She held it, within her sights as it squirmed and squealed for its last few moments before the young Courier pulled the trigger of the rifle and put an end to it for good.

The bullet tunnelled into the center of the creature's brain and exploded, causing the creature's entire head to explode, in a spectacular liquid explosion, spraying Annie's right shin, the leg of which she had used to pin the monster down, in a bucket full of insect blood, bile and brain matter, all of which smelled rancid.

The Slave stood over the headless body of the ant, with Garry's rifle, still smoking, in her hands. She panted heavily as she looked over it, seeing some more of its vile, yellow blood treacle out of the hole that used to be its neck…

She sighed with relief and stepped off of the creature, slowly turning towards Garry, who was slowly pulling himself up to his feet, wondering what had happened. He looked up and saw a horrific sight, his slave was now in possession of his rifle and from the looks of that ant, she knew how to use it.

_Shit!_

Annie noticed how his posture changed, he looked intimidated as he saw her, stood before him, holding his gun. It didn't help that he had **just** tried to kill her, two minutes before, she was a crack shot, she hated him and now she had his gun. His only hope now was that she wasn't one of those psychotic, quiet types, that she would just grant him a mercifully short, though humiliating death.

However, to his surprise, she just stood there, as if the thought hadn't occurred to her…

"It's okay, it's dead…" She informed him, kicking it with her heel to show him as it rocked from side to side, its legs moved as it did so, swaying along with its body.

"See?"

Garry nodded, nervously as he slowly approached her, his eyes fixed on her gun as he slowly approached her, however, though it should have come as no surprise, it still seemed to come out nowhere as she raised her gun up to his face.

"Woah, woah, woah! Don't even try it!

Now, you're going to do **exactly** as I say, you've seen how accurate I can be, right? So you **know** that I'm not messing around.

She lowered the rifle, so that it was resting on her hip, pressed against it by her right elbow, so that she was able to hold it with one hand. She held her captor at gunpoint as she reached up and tapped her collar.

"Off… **Now!**"

Garry, still with his hands raised, shook his head, he didn't like to say 'no' to someone who was pointing a gun at him but it wasn't possible. The best he could do was blow her head clean off…

"I can't! I don't know how to disarm it, I swear!"

Annie shook her head and put her spare hand under the rifle, to steady it as she pointed it at him, holding him in her sights.

"I don't believe you, you can put it on but you can't take it off?"

"Y-Yeah! They don't tell us how we take it off, because they don't **want** us to take it off! I swear, I can't get that thing off of you, without killing you!" The Slaver explained as concisely as possible.

Annie frowned as if she was struggling to deduce whether or not he was lying but then again, he did look afraid of her at this point, he knew that he would get a bullet between the eyes if he did lie to her or did attempt anything stupid.

He must be telling the truth, though Annie didn't want to believe it, it was like they had everything planned out, so that the victim could never have the upper hand.

She sighed, heavily and lowered the gun, just a little as she thought about it, not knowing what to do from here.

"Look… Erm… Annie?" She looked up as he said her name, surprised that he remembered it.

"Look… We can't waste any time, that collar of yours has a time limit and we've already wasted enough of it.

I'm…" He paused, stopping himself from apologising.

"Afraid that we need to move, we need to get back to Paradise Falls…

I'm gonna need my gun back."

The Courier sighed and glanced down to her rifle, though she felt safer, having the Slaver at gunpoint, she knew that she couldn't keep this up forever.

"I… I will but only if you promise some things.

That you won't hit me or berate me and you **certainly** aren't allowed to throw me at things." She gestured to the door of the factory, to prove her point.

"Alright, if you behave yourself and avoid pissing me off… Fine, I won't touch you or call you names again, now gimme my rifle!" He snapped as he stumbled forward, getting her to draw it on him again as she shook her head.

"No, I want a promise, an agreement and I want **you** to stick to it!"

Garry paused, raising his hands as he stumbled back as she insisted on them making a deal. He eventually shook his head and sighed, giving in to her demands…

"Fine…" Garry seethed, slowly extending his hand, slightly worried that she might panic and shoot it off.

"Give me the gun and I'll do everythin' you said…

I… Promise…"

Annie didn't know what else he could say, she didn't exactly believe him at this point but there was some sincerity in his voice…

She sighed and lowered her gun, she handed it to him, barrel end first, knowing full well that shooting him wouldn't solve anything. It wouldn't exactly be self-defence, making her a murderer and even if she **was** okay with that…

It wouldn't solve anything…

The Slaver gently took the gun out of her hand, holding it by the barrel as he gently took it out of her firm grasp. He waited until it was out of her hands before picking up the pace and slinging the rifle over his shoulder.

"Thank you…" He said, though it didn't really sound natural, like he was passing a bowel movement.

"For saving my life, I mean…" He added, covering his tracks as he turned around and began to pick up his trail, towards Paradise Falls.

"You're a good shot."

He left Annie alone, still trembling a little from the ordeal, her hands still hurt from the rifle blast and the shocking news that she was a slave hadn't fully sunk in yet. She hadn't considered what it means just yet as she was still getting over the fact that she had just shot a monstrous insect.

She seemed to have gotten the Slaver to show some form of respect to her and he at least appreciated her shooting skills. It was a start, at least…

"Hey…!" She called out, after him as she ran over and joined him, strolling alongside.

"What's your name?"

The Slaver frowned at her, though he supposed that she had a right to know, she'd need something to call him by.

"Garry…"

"Thanks, at least I know who ruined my life now…" She replied, bitterly, as they continued their journey into the wastes.


End file.
